Department for Business and Trade

UK Trade with EU: Trade Barriers

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government whatsteps they are taking to reduce new barriers to EU–UK trade.

Lord Johnson of Lainston: This Government is working to break down trade barriers around the world, which my Rt Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business and Trade has set out publicly as one of our top priorities. We are leading a whole of Government effort to remove a hit list of 100 barriers, which could open up opportunities to UK exporters worth more than £20 billion. This includes barriers arising in Europe and within the EU. In the year to March 2023, we resolved 45 market access barriers in Europe, a 10% increase year on year.

Trade Agreements: Mexico

Baroness Coussins: To ask His Majesty's Government what progressthey have made in negotiations towards a Free Trade Agreement between the UK and Mexico.

Lord Johnson of Lainston: Negotiations between the UK and Mexico have been positive so far, with a clear mutual intention to pursue a Free Trade Agreement which can complement and build on our new trade arrangements as members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. We have held three rounds of negotiations, with the latest taking place in May.We look forward to concluding negotiations at the earliest opportunity. However, we want to make sure any new trade deal adds value to the UK economy and meets our trade policy objectives. We are prepared to take the time necessary to deliver that.

Strikes and Trade Unions

Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take following the statement by the International Labour Organization (ILO) on 15 June that the UK's existing and prospective laws on unions and strikes must conform with the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, and that His Majesty's Government was (1) invited to seek ILO technical assistance, and (2) requested to report progress by September, in addition to seeking more consultation with unions and employers.

The Earl of Minto: The Government believes that our trade union law complies with international conventions, including those of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Workers in the UK have the right to join a union and organise, this is rightly protected by law. They also have the ability to strike should they wish to. The Government believes however that taking strike action has to be balanced with the rights of others, including employers and members of the public. We will consider the findings of the ILO report carefully and respond in due course.

Home Office

Asylum: Boats

Lord Roberts of Llandudno: To ask His Majesty's Government how many staff will be needed to service the barges that will be used to house asylum seekers; and how those staff will be (1) recruited, (2) trained, and (3) accommodated.

Lord Murray of Blidworth: Vessels will be managed by an experienced accommodation provider under contractual terms agreed with the Home Office. The same supplier has safely and successfully managed two vessels for Ukrainian refugees for the Scottish Government over the past year.The provider is responsible for managing the services on the barge, including staff recruitment, training and accommodation.

Visas: Fisheries

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment theyhave made of transit visas for fishing operatives.

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for using skilled workers visas for those who wish to work offshore in the fishing industry in the UK.

Lord Murray of Blidworth: The Government’s longstanding position has been that foreign nationals need permission to work in UK waters and that transit visas, designed to cater for those intending to simply travel through UK waters, have never been an appropriate visa to use to work on a long-term basis in the UK.The fishing sector is well catered for under the points-based-system, with a range of fishing roles eligible for the Skilled Worker visa. The sector have been able to access the Skilled Worker visa since April 2021 and we have offered a generous package of support to assist the industry.Government expects the sector to be moving to full compliance with the immigration system as soon as possible, and to assist in this, a generous package of support has been provided, including enhanced visa support, adding some fishing occupations to the Shortage Occupation List this summer and engagement with the sector to drive up their usage of the skilled worker visa. Government encourages the sector to take up this generous package of support.

Skilled Workers: Visas

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick: To ask His Majesty's Government how many applications were received for Skilled Worker visas from (1) 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023, and (2) 1 April 2023 to 31 May 2023; and of these, how many were for operatives in the fishing industry who work within the 12 nautical miles off the coast of the UK.

Lord Murray of Blidworth: The Home Office publishes data on Entry clearance visas in the Immigration system statistics quarterly release - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).Data on the number of Skilled Worker applications are published in table Vis_D01 of the Managed migration datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The latest data relates up to Q1 2023 (January to March).Some of the SOC codes for use in the nautical sector aren’t specifically for fishing so the information requested could not be obtained without disproportionate cost.Entry clearance visas granted outside the UK (xlsx, 9565.6KB)

Asylum: Boats

Lord Roberts of Llandudno: To ask His Majesty's Government when they will bring the barges that will be used to house asylum seekers into service.

Lord Murray of Blidworth: The Bibby Stockholm will arrive in Portland shortly.

Asylum: Boats

Lord Roberts of Llandudno: To ask His Majesty's Government whether the barges that will be used to house asylum seekers will be seaborne; and if so, what arrangements they will put in place to enable those accommodated to visit (1) shops, (2) banks, and (3) other facilities.

Lord Murray of Blidworth: Vessels accommodating asylum seekers will be docked. Vessels are non-detained and transport will be provided.

Migrant Workers: Visas

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick: To ask His Majesty's Government how many applications were received fortransit visas from (1) 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2023, and (2) 1 April 2023 to 31 May 2023; and of these, how many were for operatives in the fishing industry who work (a) within the 12 nautical miles off the coast of the UK, and (2) for international waters.

Lord Murray of Blidworth: The Home Office publishes data on transit visa applications in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.Data on transit applications is published in table Vis_D01 of the Entry clearance detailed dataset of the quarterly publication. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to Q1 2023.The Home Office does not record the reasons for the transit visa in a reportable format and to obtain the information requested could not be done without disproportionate cost.table Vis_D01 (xlsx, 1490.0KB)

Asylum: Boats

Lord Roberts of Llandudno: To ask His Majesty's Government where the barges that will be used to house asylum seekers will be located.

Lord Murray of Blidworth: The Home Office has leased a vessel to accommodate in Portland Port, Dorset.The locations where further vessels will be berthed will be released in due course.

Muslim Brotherhood

Lord Pearson of Rannoch: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of, and what action they have takenin response to, the review by Sir John Jenkins into the philosophy and valuesof the Muslim Brotherhood, and its alleged connection with extremists and violence.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: Our assessment of the Muslim Brotherhood remains as set out in the summary report published in December 2015, which concluded the movement is a secretive organisation and that parts of it – globally – have a highly ambiguous relationship with violent extremism. The UK Government continues to stand by the judgments of the review. The Government keeps under review the Muslim Brotherhood’s activities and views when appropriate to ensure our position is based on the latest information available and we will consider action in accordance with the five commitments included in the former Prime Minister’s statement to Parliament, if and where legal thresholds are met.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Agriculture: Pollution

Baroness Thornhill: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the evidence of Alan Law, Deputy Chief Executive, Natural England, to the Built Environment Select Committee on 20 June that “there is a less onerous regulatory regime in place currently in relation to agricultural source pollution” than that imposed on the construction sector; and what are the reasons for this.

Lord Benyon: This Government is taking a range of steps across the agriculture and water industry sectors to reduce water pollution at source to protect the environment. We are committed to having a fair and proportionate regulatory regime for agriculture. This means applying the polluter pays principle in a way that ensures that farming and food production can be resilient and sustainable over the long term while also protecting the environment. We committed through the Environmental Improvement Plan and Plan for Water to review our farming regulations to ensure they are fit for purpose for our environmental and farming ambitions. Farms are subject to robust regulations on agricultural activities which could cause environmental harm, including through the Farming Rules for Water and the Nitrate Pollution Prevention Regulations. These set out clear standards and a baseline that farmers must comply with. Many requirements, including those for slurry storage and nutrient application, require significant investment from farmers to meet. We have increased funding to the Environment Agency for 50 new farm inspectors to ensure that agricultural diffuse pollution regulations are followed. This enabled them to conduct over 4,000 farm inspections in the last fiscal year. We launched the Slurry Infrastructure grant in 2022 to support farmers to bring their capacity up to six months of covered slurry storage which allows farmers to manage their resources while protecting the environment. We have nearly trebled our first-round budget to £34 million, with round two due to launch this autumn.

Avian Influenza: Developing Countries

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle: To ask His Majesty's Government how they are supporting lower and middle income countries with weak animal health systems to combat avian influenza effectively.

Lord Benyon: The UK continues to play a leading role in this critical area as part of our wider work to tackle zoonotic diseases, which are responsible for around 60% of all human diseases and 75% of all new and emerging infectious diseases. Our world-class laboratories provide capability-building services to global partners including lower and middle income countries, integrating technical support, surveillance, risk analysis and epidemiology expertise, and participating in numerous global research and development networks which offer a multi-disciplinary approach for early detection systems and emergency preparedness and response coordination, with a focus on animal and zoonotic diseases, including avian influenza. We also support country and regional partners through our Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget to strengthen global health systems, so they are better able to prepare for, prevent, detect and respond to a wide range of health threats, including zoonotic diseases like avian influenza. This includes our Animal Health Systems Strengthening Project, International Health Regulations Strengthening Project and Tackling Deadly Disease in Africa Programme, all of which take a One Health approach, emphasising the connections between human, animal, plant and environmental health. In addition, we are providing ODA funding to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations to build avian influenza prevention, preparedness and response capacity in West Africa. Furthermore, we are funding The One Health Poultry Hub, a multistakeholder development research partnership working in Southeast Asia to support safer poultry systems. We are also strengthening genomic surveillance capability through the New Variant Assessment Platform, which will help countries to deal more effectively with pathogens of pandemic potential, including avian influenza. All UK Aid spend is published by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in the form of Statistics on International Development and is available at GOV.UK.

Rights of Way

Baroness Scott of Needham Market: To ask His Majesty's Government, in deciding to reinstate a deadline for recording historic rights of way, what engagement took place between Ministers and organisations representing landowners and land managers.

Lord Benyon: Ministers had no engagement with the Country Land and Business Association and the National Farmers Union regarding the decision to reinstate the deadline for the recording of historic rights of way.

Livestock: Animal Welfare

Baroness Redfern: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to improve the welfare of farmed animals at the time of slaughter.

Lord Benyon: The Government encourages the highest standards of animal welfare at slaughter, and legislation sets out the main requirements to protect the welfare of animals when being slaughtered. Following publication in 2021 of the Post Implementation Review of the Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (England) Regulations 2015, and as part of the Government’s Action Plan for Animal Welfare, we are considering a number of ways in which the welfare of animals at the time of killing could be further improved. As a first step, last year we introduced The Protection of Animals at the Time of Killing (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2022 which made the non-penetrative captive bolt device available as a killing method for neonate piglets, lambs and kids (within certain parameters), providing an effective method for humane culling on-farm.

Department of Health and Social Care

Untreated Milk: Health Hazards

Lord Patten: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any (1) health benefits, and (2) health hazards, ofdrinking untreated raw cow's milk.

Lord Patten: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any (1) health benefits, and (2) health hazards, of eating unpasteurised cheddar cheese, and its by-product whey butter.

Lord Markham: The Food Standards Agency (FSA), has policy responsibility for food safety, including Raw Drinking Milk (RDM). A Risk Assessment was conducted on RDM by the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food in 2018 and considered by the FSA Board that year. The conclusion was that the risk from RDM is not so unacceptable as to justify removing the right of adult consumers to choose to drink it. However, to protect public health and balance consumer choice and business growth, improvements to the controls applied by Food Business Operators were required and have now been implemented.There has been no assessment made of the health benefits or hazards of consuming unpasteurised cheddar cheese or whey butter, and no assessment made of the health benefits of consuming untreated raw cow’s milk.

Coronavirus: Databases

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Kamall on 2 August 2022 (HL1602), what is the current list of 'purposes' available today inNHS England’s Palantir platform; and how many users are currently able to access each purpose listed.

Lord Markham: A list of ‘purposes’ and how many users there are for each individual purpose is attached, due to the size of the data. Notes have been included indicating those purposes that are for administrative use and those that have been deprecated since the previous answer and so no longer exist.Attachment (xlsx, 25.2KB)

Medical Treatments Abroad

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty's Government how many S2 funding applications were approved in (1) NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board, and (2) NHS Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board, in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, (c) 2021, and (d) 2022.

Lord Markham: NHS England administers the Planned Treatment Scheme (S2) for residents of England. The Integrated Care Boards (Establishment) Order 2022 legally established 42 integrated care boards (ICB) with effect from 1 July 2022, therefore the following table can only provide information for two ICB’s showing the number of S2’s approved. Exact numbers have not been provided to prevent the identification of individual patients. Number of S2’s approved between 1 July 2022 to 31 December 2022NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care BoardFive or lessNHS Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care BoardFive or less

Care Homes

Lord Naseby: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of why there are over 90 empty care homes in England.

Lord Markham: The Department does not monitor or publish data on the number of empty care homes within England. Adult social care services are provided through a largely outsourced market of commercial organisations and charities. Local authorities have a duty to promote the efficient and effective operation of their local adult social care market and are best placed to understand and plan for the care needs of their populations.

Social Workers: Recruitment

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have to develop a robust national workforce plan for social workers by the end of 2023.

Lord Markham: In December 2021, the Government set out its strategy for the social care workforce in ‘The People at the Heart of Care’ white paper. This paper set out the Government’s commitment to the continued success of the social work profession.

Children: Health

Lord Campbell-Savours: To ask His Majesty's Government whether comparative data is kept on the average height and/or weight of children aged 5 in the UK as compared to other countries.

Lord Markham: The information requested is not held from other countries. Height and weight measurements are collected in England from approximately 500,000 children per year in reception year, aged four to five years old, as part of the National Child Measurement Programme. The collection started in 2006/07 and the latest available data is for 2021/22. Additionally, measured height and weight of children has been collected in the Health Survey for England for 1995 to 2019.Data is collected in Scotland and Wales in both an annual child measurement programme and annual health survey, and in the health survey Northern Ireland. However, no data is published for height and weight that is comparable to the data published for England.

Department for Education

Artificial Intelligence: Training

Baroness Uddin: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Prime Minister's remarks on 12 June about the UK becoming a global leader in AI, what assessment they have made of whether there is a skills gap which might impede this; and if so, what steps they are taking to address that gap.

Baroness Barran: In March 2023, the government published its plan to cement the UK’s position as a Science and Technology superpower. As part of this, the department identified five critical technologies to deliver prosperity and security for the UK, including artificial intelligence (AI). The plan can be found in the attached document.To support this ambition, the department is working on a cross-government action plan on science and technology talent and skills with the Home Office, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the Department for Business and Trade and the Cabinet Office. In 2023, the department is developing a departmental Skills Dashboard to understand the supply and demand of science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills for critical technologies, including AI.Digital and computing skills will play an important role in this work. The department has made progress in recent years, for example this year’s provisional entries for Computer Science GCSEs and A levels show 12% and 14% growth respectively, the highest of all sciences. However, we recognise that there is more work to be done.This is why the department has overhauled the outdated Information and Communications Technology (ICT) curriculum and replaced it with computing. The department has also invested over £100 million in the National Centre for Computing Education to inspire the next generation of computer scientists.The department is also investing more in technical skills and education, with courses and training in digital subjects often at the forefront of our reforms. Digital T Levels, Higher Technical Qualifications, Apprenticeships and Skills Bootcamps are ensuring we meet the skills needs for our priority technologies, including those increasingly needed for AI.The department is building on these initiatives through the Digital and Computing Skills Education Taskforce which brings together government and external expertise to increase the numbers of individuals taking digital and computing qualifications in mainstream and tertiary education, and to attract individuals into digital jobs.UK_science_technology_framework (pdf, 998.1KB)

Skills Bootcamps: British Overseas Territories

Baroness Lister of Burtersett: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they willamend the residency requirement for the Skills Bootcamp programme so that newly arrived citizens from the British overseas territories under the BOTC (F), BOTC (M), and the BIOT (Chagossian) routes can take advantage of the programme to help them settle into employment in the UK.

Baroness Barran: Adults are eligible to apply for a Skills Bootcamp if they are aged 19 or over, have the right to work in the UK, live in England and meet residency requirements.Skills Bootcamps follow the same residency eligibility criteria as other funding streams for further education for adults aged 19+, including the Adult Education Budget. The government has to prioritise which learners to support within the finite resources available.Learners who have been ordinarily resident in the UK for at least the previous three years on the first day of learning are eligible for funding, irrespective of citizenship or nationality. Eligibility also extends to those with a right of abode in the UK, who have been residing in British Overseas Territories for at least the previous three years on the first day of learning.

Languages: Pre-school Education

Baroness Uddin: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any difference in the rates of language development between pre-school boys and girls.

Baroness Uddin: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they collect information onethnicity in relation to the language development of pre-school boys and girls.

Baroness Barran: The department does not collect information with regard to the language development of children in pre-school. However, the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework requires early years providers in England, ordinarily schools, to complete the EYFS Profile assessment at the end of the academic year in which children turn five years old, which is usually their reception year.Each child’s level of development is assessed against 17 early learning goals (ELGs) across all 7 areas of learning in the EYFS, including communication and language. For each ELG, practitioners must assess whether a child is meeting the level of development expected at the end of the EYFS, or if they are not yet reaching this level and should be assessed as ‘emerging’.The EYFS Profile results for the 2021/22 academic year show that 74.3% of boys were at the expected level of development in the ELGs within the communication and language area of learning, compared to 85.0% of girls. These results can be found in the attached document.The statistics also include breakdowns by major ethnicity grouping and gender for the ELGs within the communication and language area of learning and the literacy area of learning. These statistics are available in the attached document.To provide support for children’s early language development, particularly for those most disadvantaged, the government is investing over £28 million to provide targeted, intensive and evidence-based support to help parents chat, play and read with their young children. This investment is being delivered through the new 3 year family hubs programme which is being rolled out in 75 local authorities, with priority given to families that will benefit the most. This is supported by online resources that provide evidence-based, yet highly accessible advice and ideas for parents about literacy and early language activities for children at every stage between birth and five years old. These resources can be found at: https://www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/baby/learning-to-talk/learning-to-talk-0-to-6-months/.Additionally, the department is providing a package of up to £180 million for workforce training, qualifications, expert guidance and targeted support for the early years sector to address the impact of the pandemic on the youngest and most disadvantaged children. As part of this, the Professional Development Programme Phase 3 (PDP3) has been made available to all local authorities in England and will train up to 10,000 early years professionals in communication and language. The department is also investing in the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI), improving the language skills of reception age children who need it the most. The programme targets children needing extra support with their speech and language development and is proven to help them make around three months of additional progress. The department estimates that the programme will reach at least 90,000 children. ELG_Boys_and_Girls (xlsx, 13.3KB)ELG_Ethnicity (xlsx, 13.8KB)

Higher Education: Standards

Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe: To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made on developing a new kitemark scheme for higher education, as recommended in the final report of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, published on 23 May 2022; and what is their assessment of how this kitemark will work alongside the National Network for the Education of Care Leavers Quality Mark.

Baroness Barran: On 2 February 2023, the department published ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, our strategy for reforming children’s social care, which included a commitment to introducing a gold standard accreditation scheme for further and higher education institutions. We have established an expert advisory group, including the National Network for the Education of Care Leavers, to develop the accreditation in partnership with the sector and consider how it will work alongside existing schemes.

Foundation Courses

Baroness Wolf of Dulwich: To ask His Majesty's Government, for each academic year since 2018–19, how many students were enrolled in one-year foundation year courses in English higher education institutions.

Baroness Wolf of Dulwich: To ask His Majesty's Government, for each academic year since 2018–19, how many foundation year students were enrolled for degrees which fell into price groups (1) A, (2) B, (3) C1.1, (4) C1.2, (5) C2, and (6) D.

Baroness Wolf of Dulwich: To ask His Majesty's Government, for each academic year since 2018–19, how many of the foundation year students who enrolled for degrees in price group D, were enrolled for degrees in (1) business subjects, and (2) social studies.

Baroness Barran: The data for all three tables below cover English-domiciled foundation year students studying at approved fee cap English higher education (HE) institutions and further education (FE) colleges.The data is currently unpublished and is based on internal department analysis of Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data. As such, figures are rounded to the nearest five in line with the following HESA guidance: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/about/regulation/data-protection/rounding-and-suppression-anonymise-statistics.The price group data for the 2018/19 academic year is not directly comparable to price group data for the following academic years because of a change in the system for classifying subjects from the 2019/20 academic year onwards.The number of students enrolled onto one-year foundation courses is shown in Table 1.Table 1: Full-person equivalent of foundation year entrants studying one-year courses at HE institutions and FE colleges in England since the 2018/19 academic year.Academic YearNumber of students undertaking a one-year foundation year course2018/1935,9952019/2043,3952020/2153,5902021/2269,325The number of foundation year students studying in each of the different price groups since the 2018/19 academic year is shown in Table 2.Table 2: Full-person equivalent of foundation year entrants at HE institutions and FE colleges in England since the 2018/19 academic year shown by price group. Academic YearPrice Group2018/192019/202020/212021/22A0000B9,31510,5859,51011,260C1.12,2202,4502,7002,900C1.22,4752,4702,8603,160C24,8707,1059,44010,905D15,06520,78529,07041,090The number of students studying a foundation year in a business and management or social sciences degree for each academic year since 2018/19 is shown in Table 3.Table 3: Full-person equivalent of foundation year entrants studying business and management and social science degrees at HE institutions and FE colleges in England since the 2018/19 academic year.Academic YearSubject2018/192019/202020/212021/22Business and management studies8,90013,60023,42035,585Social sciences3,8556,2656,3456,915

Teachers: Training

Baroness Twycross: To ask His Majesty's Government how much they have spent advertising careers in teaching in (1) schools, and (2) further education, for each of the past five years.

Baroness Twycross: To ask His Majesty's Government how much they have spent on the ‘Get into Teaching’ advertising campaignin each of the past five years.

Baroness Twycross: To ask His Majesty's Government whatmetricsthey use to assess the success of advertising campaigns to attract people into careers in teaching in (1) schools, and (2) further education.

Baroness Twycross: To ask His Majesty's Government what evaluation they haveundertaken to assess the success of advertising campaigns to attract people into careers in teaching in (1) schools, and (2) further education.

Baroness Barran: The table below sets out total spend for advertising campaigns for careers in teaching in schools and Further Education for the past five financial years.Financial YearGet Into Teaching Advertising: Financial Year SpendFE teacher recruitment Advertising: Financial Year Spend2022/23£13,157,484.38£4,079,9232021/22£12,255,612.85£2,000,0002020/21£11,848,725.3402019/20£12,776,070.5402018/19£12,773,706.550The objectives of the Get Into Teaching advertising campaign are to raise the status of teaching and contribute to overall Initial Teacher Training (ITT) numbers. Due to the often lengthy candidate journey from initial consideration through to applying for, and starting ITT, several methods are used to assess campaign impact. They include regular brand tracking studies and other market research, and econometric modelling to identify and quantify the factors affecting sign ups to the Get Into Teaching service. They also include analysis of the flow of candidates between Get Into Teaching and the new Find and Apply services, and tracking of site traffic to the Get Into Teaching website.The objectives of the Further Education advertising campaign are to raise awareness of a career in Further Education teaching and contribute to a long term increase in overall recruitment numbers. Several methods are used to assess campaign impact. They include regular brand tracking studies and other market research, analysis of the flow of candidates between the Further Education teacher recruitment campaign website and third party Further Education job sites, and tracking number of users to the Further Education teacher recruitment campaign website.The Get Into Teaching and Further Education recruitment campaigns track a number of behavioural and attitudinal metrics to give a rounded picture of each campaign’s impact.Key Performance Indicators for Get Into Teaching are a consideration of teaching as a career amongst our target audience and the number of new, unique sign-ups to the Get Into Teaching service. The campaign also measures the proportion of sign-ups attributed to the advertising campaign, through econometric modelling and the proportion of ITT applicants who have interacted with the Get Into Teaching service.Key Performance Indicators for the Further Education recruitment campaign are a consideration of teaching in Further Education amongst target audiences and the number of users to the Further Education teacher recruitment website. The campaign also measures the number who go on to take action on the site, such as signing up for further information or visiting a jobs board.

Teaching Aids

Lord Pearson of Rannoch: To ask His Majesty's Government what legal rightsparents have to access the teaching materials used at theirchildren's schools.

Baroness Barran: All schools have a duty to share information about their curriculum with parents and, whilst this does not require them to share all of the teaching materials they use with parents routinely, the department has been very clear that schools should respond positively where parents request to see specific materials. On 31 March 2023, the Secretary of State wrote to all schools to set out that, under current arrangements, schools can and should share curriculum materials with parents, and the department would expect schools to avoid entering into any agreement with an external agency that seeks to prevent them from ensuring parents are properly aware of the materials that are being used to teach their children.The department is aware that some parents have particular concerns about materials used to teach Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE). The department will consider, as part of the review of the RSHE statutory guidance, whether any further changes are needed to reinforce the need for transparency around RSHE materials.In May 2023, the Secretary of State announced the details of the independent expert advisory panel who will advise on the review of the RSHE curriculum. They have been tasked with identifying the topics within the curriculum which would benefit from age limits.It will remain important that schools take full responsibility for ensuring lessons and materials are age appropriate, suitable, and politically impartial, particularly when using materials produced by external organisations.Oak National Academy, the independent provider of freely available online curriculum and lesson resources, will develop curriculum materials to make sure every school can access high quality, compliant RSHE resources.Schools may choose to use curriculum materials developed by Oak, an Arm’s Length Body, working independently of Government and collaboratively with the education sector. Oak works with teachers across the country, giving them and their pupils access to free, optional, and adaptable high quality digital curriculum resources. Its current resources can be viewed online at: https://www.thenational.academy/. Oak is developing new resources which will begin to become available from this Autumn.Schedule 4 Paragraph 7(a) of the School Information Regulations (England) 2008/3093 requires all maintained schools to publish their school curriculum on their website. The guidance for this is outlined online at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/what-maintained-schools-must-publish-online.All academies must follow a similar process for their school curriculum. The guidance for this is outlined online at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/what-academies-free-schools-and-colleges-should-publish-online.If a parent feels that a maintained school is failing to comply with its legal requirements relating to the provision of the curriculum, or that the school is acting unreasonably in the way it complies with them, they can make a formal complaint to the governing body by following the school’s statutory complaints procedures.

Schools: Admissions

Lord Desai: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recommendation of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child that the UK should prevent the use of religion as a selection criterion for school admission in England.

Baroness Barran: The UK is a signatory of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child’s (UNCRC), and the department will consider carefully the Committee’s recommendations. The government does not always agree with, or implement, UNCRCs recommendations, and there is no requirement to do so.Mainstream state-funded schools designated with a religious character, commonly known as faith schools, may choose to give priority for places to applicants on the basis of faith, but only where they are oversubscribed. Where they have places available, they must admit all children who apply without reference to faith. Faith-based oversubscription criteria provide a means to support parents to have their children educated in line with their religious and philosophical beliefs, where they wish to do so.Some faith schools only prioritise a proportion of places with reference to faith, and others do not use faith-based criteria at all. Free schools which are designated with a religious character must allocate at least 50% of places without reference to faith, where they are oversubscribed.The School Admissions Code exists to ensure that admission arrangements are fair, clear and objective, and is binding on all state mainstream schools, including faith schools. Where anyone is concerned that a school’s admission arrangements are unfair or unlawful, the department encourages them to refer an objection to the independent Schools Adjudicator.

Schools: Collective Worship

Lord Desai: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recommendation of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child that the UK should repeal laws requiring daily acts of collective worship in schools.

Baroness Barran: The government believes that collective worship is an important part of school life, encouraging pupils to reflect on the concept of belief and the role it plays in the traditions and values of this country. The legislation surrounding collective worship is flexible and allows schools to tailor their provision to suit their pupils’ spiritual needs, as well as providing an opportunity for schools and academies to develop and celebrate their ethos and values. The law also affords a right of withdrawal, which can be exercised by pupils over the age of 16 and by parents of pupils under the age of 16.The government’s assessment is that the current legislation appropriately balances the rights of parents and of children, and has no plans to review its policy on collective worship or the associated right to withdraw as it relates to children attending state funded schools in England.

Department for Transport

Motor Vehicles: Insurance

Baroness Randerson: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the 43.1per cent increase over the past year in the cost of motor insurance for comparable insurance cover, as reported by ONS; and what discussions they have had with representatives of the motor insurance industry to encourage them to reduce the burden on motorists.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The Department is working hard to help support people with the cost of living. Whilst we have made no particular assessment in this case, we do engage regularly with the insurance industry on a range of topics.

Aviation: Training

Lord Balfe: To ask His Majesty's Government, following the closure of three flight schools this year, what further financial protection they intend to give trainee pilots from UK flight school failures.

Lord Balfe: To ask His Majesty's Government how, if at all, they intend to improve the financial regulation of UK flight schools.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: Responsibility for regulating flying training in the UK rests with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The CAA’s approval of a flying school or training establishment as an Approved Training Organisation (ATO) are designed to provide confidence that they are able to perform their operations safely. However, as the CAA does not regulate the ongoing financial viability of flying schools or clubs, approval to conduct flight training does not imply any certification of financial stability. I have asked my officials to engage with the CAA to consider this in more detail.

Airports: Retail Trade

Baroness Altmann: To ask His Majesty's Government what stepsthey are taking to support the commercial interests of airports and travel hubs as they recover from the COVID-19 pandemic disruptions; and whether they are considering cost-neutral measures such as duty free on arrival stores.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The UK’s aviation sector largely operates in a competitive private market. Government’s role is primarily to develop and implement the regulatory and policy frameworks that have helped to shape this world-leading sector. Last year we published Flightpath to the Future to set out how we will work with the sector to help it grow and return to pre-pandemic levels of demand and profitability.The Government recognises how our extensive airport network can act as a catalyst for national and local benefits. In April, we introduced a 50% cut in domestic Air Passenger Duty (APD) to help bolster domestic connectivity, while further aligning APD with UK environmental objectives by adding a new ultra-long-haul distance band.Although there are no plans to introduce a scheme for Duty-free on arrival stores, the Government does keep all taxes under review. On 1 January 2021, the Government did extend duty-free sales to EU-bound passengers for the first time in over 20 years. This is a significant boost to all airports and international rail terminals in England, Scotland and Wales, including smaller regional airports and rail hubs, which have not been able to offer duty-free to the EU before.

Electric Vehicles: Charging Points

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to require all new homes to have an electric car charging point.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: Following changes to the building regulations in December 2021, all new or majorly renovated homes with associated parking in England require the installation of an electric vehicle chargepoint. Larger parking areas are also required to install cable routes to facilitate the installation of additional chargepoints in the future. These requirements also apply to non-residential buildings such as shops and workplaces.

Acceleration Unit

Baroness Randerson: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Department for Transport's Acceleration Unit, what progress has been made to (1) speed up the delivery of transport infrastructure projects, (2) implement policy initiatives and programmes in relation to the Government's agenda, and (3) publish the total expenditure to date of the Acceleration Unit.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: (1) What progress has been made to speed up the delivery of transport infrastructure projects?The Acceleration Unit was set up in 2020 to focus on unblocking project delivery and identifying ways to speed up the realisation of benefits from the Department for Transport’s infrastructure portfolio. During its time, the Acceleration Unit worked closely with sponsors, delivery bodies, HM Treasury and others to deliver against this agenda, supporting Project Speed and other acceleration opportunities. This has resulted in an increased focus in our delivery bodies and sponsor teams on both project specific barriers, as well as ways of speeding up our overall delivery systems.The Department has now reorganised the way it delivers the work of the Acceleration Unit to reflect current circumstances and to best meet its needs. This builds on the success of what the Acceleration Unit has achieved and will allow the Department to continue to improve programme delivery.(2) What progress has been made to implement policy initiatives and programmes in relation to the Government's agenda?The Department continues to develop and implement policies to deliver the Government's agenda and is working with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on planning reforms. On the 23 February this year the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) Action Plan was published, which sets out how these reforms will be delivered across government. The reforms will provide greater clarity and certainty to all stakeholders who use the NSIP system, making the NSIP consenting process better, faster, greener, fairer and more resilient, so that it can deliver against government's ambitions for major infrastructure.(3) publish the total expenditure to date of the Acceleration UnitThe total expenditure of the Acceleration Unit was £1,270,824. This figure includes all costs related to the Unit, such as staff salaries, consultancy support, and business travel and subsistence. The figure represents the total for financial years 20/21 up to and including 23/24. The costs for the Acceleration Unit have been met from existing Civil Service budgets.

Department for Work and Pensions

Cost of Living Payments: Disability

Lord Moynihan: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to increase the Disability Cost of Living Payment to support measures to keep people active.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: We have no such plans. The value of the £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment is set in primary legislation: the Social Security (Additional Payments) Act 2023 (Social Security (Additional Payments) Act 2023 (legislation.gov.uk)). I am pleased to say that the payments, worth an estimated total of £1.17bn once all payments have been made, started to be paid into the bank accounts of qualifying recipients from 20 June with over six million people expected to benefit. More than 6m disabled people have received a one-off £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment. People receiving a qualifying benefit will be paid automatically by 4 July. We estimate that nearly 60 per cent of individuals who receive an extra costs disability benefit will also receive the means-tested benefit Cost of Living Payments, worth up to £900. Over 85 per cent will receive either or both of the means-tested, and the £300 Pensioner Cost of Living Payment.

Social Security Benefits: Children

Baroness Kennedy of Cradley: To ask His Majesty's Government whatis their latest assessment of the effect of the two-child limit to families on benefits in the UK.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: The two-child limit policy aims to introduce fairness between households claiming benefits and taxpayers who support themselves solely through work. Families on benefits should face the same financial choices when deciding to grow their family as those supporting themselves solely through work. A benefits structure adjusting automatically to family size is unsustainable. Child Benefit continues to be paid for all children in eligible families as well as an additional amount for any disabled children. Statistics related to the policy to provide support for a maximum of two children was published in July 2022 and can be accessed at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/universal-credit-and-child-tax-credit-claimants-statistics-related-to-the-policy-to-provide-support-for-a-maximum-of-2-children-april-2022 Some key statistics from the link below are as follows: From the latest published statistics on UC households, the majority of families on UC had fewer than three children (79%), with 21% of UC households with children having three or more children. In April 2022, there were 420,000 households on UC with 3 or more children, of these 56% were not receiving a child element/amount for at least one child (due to the policy to provide support for a maximum of two children). In April 2022, there were 4.15 million households on UC, and there were a total of 1.3 million children living in a household that was not receiving a child element or amount for at least one child due to being affected by the policy. In April 2022, 17,000 households that had a third or subsequent child born on or after 6 April 2017 were in receipt of an exception.

Ministry of Defence

Defence: Artificial Intelligence

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the signed memorandum of understanding between theDefence Science and Technology Laboratory and Google Cloud to accelerate the adoption of Artificial Intelligence in the UK defence sector.

Baroness Goldie: The Defence AI Strategy (June 2021) set out a vision to better engage with industry and highlight the importance of effective public-private partnerships. In response to the strategy, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and Google Cloud UK signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on 14 June 2023 to enable them to work together on delivering safe and responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) Science & Technology research for the benefit of UK defence. In due course, progress consequent upon the MOU will be reviewed.

Ajax Lessons Learned Review

Baroness Kennedy of Cradley: To ask His Majesty's Government what lessons they have learned from theReport of the Armoured Cavalry Programme (Ajax) Lessons Learned Review, published on 19 May.

Baroness Goldie: The Review highlighted a culture that led to issues not being escalated and makes recommendations to improve that and information flows.We are working to build and sustain an environment of psychological safety in our programmes where individuals feel they can raise issues, and reinforcing the requirement to share information across organisational boundaries in support of a "One Team" approach.

Armed Forces: Housing

Baroness Kennedy of Cradley: To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in upgrading the accommodation provided to service personnel in the UK.

Baroness Goldie: Since 2016, the proportion of Service Family Accommodation (SFA) that meets or exceeds the Decent Homes Standard has risen from 94% to 97%. Only these homes are allocated to Service Families.The Ministry of Defence has invested more than £936 million in SFA upgrades and improvements in the last seven Financial Years.Through Financial Year 2022/23, the £185 million investment programme included approximately 150 major projects to an estimated 9,788 SFA, around 20% of stock. This included £73 million to improve the thermal efficiency of homes, which provided 600 properties with new boilers, 1,200 with new roofs, 1,740 with new doors and windows, and 900 with full external wall insulation.Overall, we are spending circa £199 million on new SFA homes, with £80 million of that being spent over 4 years on programmes such as Defence Estates Optimisation Programme (DEOP).

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Artificial Intelligence: Research

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to create guardrails for safe AI development by the end of 2023.

Viscount Camrose: We published our AI Regulation White Paper on 29 March, which sets out five cross-cutting principles regulators should apply when considering the use of AI in their own sectors. The principles are: (i) safety, security and robustness, (ii) appropriate transparency and explainability, (iii) fairness, (iv) accountability and governance, (v) contestability and redress.Our principles-based approach to AI regulation is focused on outcomes – rather than a more rigid, horizontal approach regulating the technology without considering context – and is designed to manage risk and enhance trust while also allowing innovation to flourish. The proposals make the provision that, dependent on the implementation of the principles, we will consider the introduction of a statutory duty on regulators in time.The white paper also proposes a range of new central functions, including a horizon scanning function intended to support the anticipation assessment of emerging risks. This will complement the existing work undertaken by regulators and other government departments to identify and address risks arising from AI.The Government is also investing £100 million in startup funding to a new Foundation Model Taskforce to ensure UK leadership in foundation models, such as those underpinning services such as chatGPT and Stable Diffusion, to develop UK sovereign capabilities in this technology and act as a global standard bearer for AI Safety.Finally, on 7th June 2023, the Prime Minister announced that the UK will host the first major Global Summit on AI Safety this autumn. The Summit will consider the risks of AI, including frontier systems, and discuss how they can be mitigated through internationally coordinated action. It will also provide a platform for countries to work together on further developing a shared approach to mitigate these risks.

Pornography

Baroness Uddin: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact ofunregulated pornography websites on the(1) mental, and (2) physical, wellbeing of young people, particularly those who are vulnerable.

Viscount Camrose: The Government commissioned research with the National Centre for Social Research, which was published in December 2022, to review evidence on the prevalence and impact of harmful content and activity to children, including pornography. The evidence in this report indicates that exposure to pornography may impact children’s perceptions of sex and relationships, and may lead to replication of practices found in pornography, increased likelihood of engaging in sexual activities and harmful or aggressive behaviour, and reduced concern for consent from partners.That is why the Online Safety Bill will deliver comprehensive protections for children from pornography. The Bill will cover all online sites that offer pornography, including commercial pornography sites, social media, video sharing platforms, forums and search engines. These companies will have to prevent children from accessing pornography or face enforcement action. In addition, the Bill will require all in-scope providers to take preventative action to protect all users, including children and young people, from illegal content such as extreme pornography and revenge pornography.

Artificial Intelligence

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that regulations placed on AI integration will not hinder the growth of AI in UK sectors.

Viscount Camrose: In March the Government published the AI Regulation White Paper, setting out a proportionate, pro-innovation approach to AI regulation. The Government will publish its response to the recently completed consultation later this year. Our approach, supported by technical standards and assurance, is deliberately designed to be outcomes-based and adaptable to new technologies, rather than a rigid approach that could impede innovation and adoption of AI by UK sectors.In addition to our regulatory work, the Government announced £100 million funding for BridgeAI – an InnovateUK programme designed to stimulate the growth of AI in traditionally low-AI-maturity sectors, such as construction and agriculture.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Vladimir Putin

Lord Selkirk of Douglas: To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to whether they would grant permission for Vladimir Putin to enter the UK.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The UK has made clear, for the avoidance of any doubt, that President Putin would not be welcome in the UK. FCDO officials re-emphasised this to senior officials at the Russian Embassy in the UK at a face-to-face meeting in early April. The UK sanctioned President Putin and applied an asset freeze shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Treasury

Bank Services: Disadvantaged

Baroness Whitaker: To ask His Majesty's Government how they monitor whether banks are complying with their legal duty to enable citizens without a fixed address to access a basic bank account; and what are the results of this monitoring.

Baroness Penn: The designated providers of basic bank accounts have agreed to report data on basic bank accounts and personal current accounts to HM Treasury for annual publication. These reports are available on the GOV.UK website.[1]  [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/basic-bank-accounts

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Lord Allen of Kensington: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of The Mortgage Crunch report, published by the Resolution Foundation on 17 June; and what plans they have, if any, to assist mortgage holders affected by rising mortgage costs.

Baroness Penn: The Government does not set mortgage or interest rates. The Bank Rate - which is one factor that lenders use to set mortgage and retail interest rates - is set by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England, which is independent of Government. Commercial Banks and Building Societies also make other commercial judgements that influence the degree of pass‐through from changes in Bank Rate into mortgage and retail interest rates. The Government does not seek to intervene in these commercial decisions. However, we recognise this will be a concerning time for mortgage holders, particularly those who are due to come to the end of their existing deal in the immediate future. The Prime Minister has been clear, the best and most important way that we can keep costs and interest rates down for people is to halve inflation, and then return it to the 2% target. On Friday 23 June the Chancellor met with mortgage lenders, UK Finance and the FCA to discuss a new package of support for those who encounter problems keeping up with their mortgage payments. These commitments include an agreement permitting customers to switch to an interest only mortgage, or extend their mortgage term, for 6 months, after which they can switch back without a new affordability check or it affecting their credit score. Lenders also agreed borrowers won’t have their home repossessed within 12 months from a first missed payment without their consent or unless in exceptional circumstances. If mortgage holders are concerned about making their mortgage repayment, they must speak to their lender as soon as possible. Contacting them will not affect their credit score. The Government has also already taken a number of measures aimed at helping people to avoid repossession, including Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) loans for those in receipt of an income-related benefit, and protection in the courts through the Pre-Action Protocol, which makes it clear that repossession must always be the last resort for lenders.

Cabinet Office

Senior Civil Servants: Recruitment

Lord Allen of Kensington: To ask His Majesty's Government how many senior civil servants are based for work outside London and the South East and, of those, how many (1) transferred from London and the South East and (2) were recruited locally.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: As at December 2022, the number of Senior Civil Servants (SCS) based outside London and the South East is 2,130 (33.7%) on a full-time equivalent basis (FTE), including around 50 SCS who work overseas in a variety of roles. This data is provisional and subject to routine revisions over time. Through the Places for Growth Programme, we aim to have 50% of UK-based SCS roles based outside of London by 2030. There have been 316 SCS roles relocated since March 2020, bringing more opportunities for civil servants to progress their careers in the regions and nations of the UK. We do not hold a breakdown of SCS that have relocated from London and the South East or those that have been recruited into SCS roles locally.